One of my favorite sayings about genealogy is: It’s better to be looking for dead ancestors than to have dead ancestors looking for you.

When I first heard that expression, I thought it was hilarious. The longer I worked on family history research, the more I realized that many people, whether they are willing to admit it, have spooky encounters with their dearly departed kinfolk.

Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

The first time I saw Lexington, Kentucky was in 1972. I was attending the Kentucky High School Speech League summer institute. Marguerite, the mother of one of my speech club friends, drove us up I-75 and down the tree-lined thoroughfare of Richmond Road. Before heading for the University of Kentucky campus, we swung by the fashionable Phoenix Hotel. The Phoenix was also historic: it was visited by Col. Aaron Burr, as well as Gen. Braxton Bragg and Gen. Kirby Smith during the Civil war. The lobby was glamorous and exotic, with its massive leather sofas and stately palms. Marguerite ordered a cocktail with her lunch. Growing up in a Baptist family in the small city of Middlesboro, this was the first time I saw a person drink alcohol in public, and the first time I had seen a woman drink a cocktail.

Sue Tucker made more masks than anyone else during the Lexington (Kentucky) Chapter NSDAR’s mask-making project. More than 1,000. Learn more about this remarkable past chapter regent, retired college professor and consummate crafter.

During World War II, Judy Owen’s grandmother worked in a garment factory to help make uniforms for the U.S. Military. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, she knew she wanted to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps.